Connor Middle School principal honored for lifesaving actions

Taken from the Sept. 27 Island Dispatch

Veronica Connor Middle School Assistant
Principal Eleanor Payne was honored this week by Erie County Legislator Kevin
Hardwick for her part in helping save the life of one of her students.

Hardwick presented Payne with a
certificate Wednesday acknowledging the actions she took in saving the life of
a student who had collapsed in the school hallway on the first day of school
Sept. 9.

Hardwick's award called Payne's actions
that day an example of "outstanding commitment and dedication."

At the close of the school day Sept. 9,
the middle school received an alarm on the computer that indicated 911 was
called from a room. On the walkie-talkies, administrators heard that a student
was down in a hallway.

When Payne and Principal Jerry Parisi ran
to the scene, they found "right by the lockers there was a student who was
non-responsive, purple and blue," Payne said.

Parisi said Payne's actions were
"phenomenal."

"Thankfully, she jumped right in and took
charge of the situation."

"I went right into auto-pilot," Payne
said, and her recent training in CPR kicked in. Payne said that off and on over
the past 20 years she's been certified in CPR. It was on Aug. 28 Payne went for
training because her American Red Cross certification expired on Aug. 31, she
said, a coincidence she called "just so surreal."

"We did two chest compressions of 30
each," Payne said. "After the second one, the student came to, the color in her
face reappeared, she started to come around."

Payne said being at the right place at
the right time, having the staff and the support there to work together in that
emergency, were "what really had a positive effect on what it was that we were
doing."

"Being an administrator, you have to stay
calm," Payne said, adding, "For me, it's the safety and well-being of my
students, my staff and my teachers, and that to me is my primary function."

Parisi said he's heard from a number of
parents who have said that they feel safer knowing that there are people in the
building who can respond the way Payne did.

Payne said she is humbled and honored by
the accolades she's received since the incident, and the best reward is "the
overwhelming response from parents, staff from across the state," some of whom
she's never met, "saying 'This is why we're in education.'"

Payne
said the reaction to her actions has been "very positive" from students as
well. She said there was an incident where a teacher told a student not to chew
on a pen. Payne said, "And the teacher told the student to please stop, 'I
don't want you to choke.' And the student responded to her, 'That's OK, we have
Mrs. Payne.'